A review of 287 patient visits to a teaching hospital polyclinic shows that most patients had multiple problems that required the help of subspecialists. However, the patients' needs for accessibility, comprehensiveness, coordination, and continuity are as great as those of patients receiving primary care. Implications for academic internal…

A study of 16 years of records of a general internal medicine faculty at a university hospital and its affiliated Veterans Administration medical center suggests the faculty involved in subspecialties and who have protected research time can improve their research productivity. (Author/MSE)

A study of house officers' performance of a complete medical history assessed interview content, questioning technique, and interview style. Frequent deficiencies included inadequate social, psychiatric, and drug reaction histories and an overly direct style. Use of detailed checklist for student evaluation is recommended to provide feedback and…

This study attempted to establish the validity of an essay test of clinical judgment by defining the domain of clinical judgment and operationalizing this definition in a 12-item essay examination administered to 98 residents in internal medicine. The relationship between essay scores and other measures of competence was then examined and the…

Objective: To compare the effects of active and didactic teaching strategies on learning- and process-oriented outcomes. Design: Controlled trial. Setting: After-hours residents' teaching session. Participants: Family and Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics residents at two academic medical institutions. Interventions: We…

Brief descriptions are presented of 12 model curriculum projects which are part of a program to develop and demonstrate effective models for integrating alcohol and other drug abuse teaching into the medical and nurse education curriculum. The models are based upon discipline-specific knowledge and skill objectives and address undergraduate,…

The unique research methodology of a series of 24 specialty surveys of the professional activities of over 10,000 respondent physicians is described. Illustrative data are presented from five specialties (cardiology, family practice, general internal medicine, orthopedic surgery, and psychiatry), and the study's relevance and implications for…

Groups of medical students were compared with respect to ward-performance scores and scores on identical examinations to determine whether students with previous clerkships are likely to perform better in their internal medicine clerkships. It is concluded that previous experience apparently does not have a beneficial effect on student performance…

Medical education's current goal of producing 50% generalists, composed of practitioners in internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics, is examined. Issues include the definition of generalist, the number of generalists needed, changes needed in graduate and undergraduate medical education, changes needed in the practice environment, and…

A survey of 1,139 Virginia family practitioners and internal medicine specialists investigated interest in pursuing geriatric education, including such factors as preferred form of education, preferred topics, intent to take the geriatric medicine qualifying examination, geriatric care provided, home visits, prior participation in geriatrics…

A study investigated the effect of participation in an intensive internal medicine conference series during a third-year medicine clerkship (n=173 students) on medical licensing examination scores and compared this with scores in surgery and pediatrics and scores of 466 students not participating in the conference. Better test performance on the…

A study assessed effectiveness of instruction designed to train internal-medical-clerkship students in productive use of feedback from residents and attending physicians (APs) to improve performance. The workshop focused on writing goals in a learning contract, defining characteristics of effective feedback, and practicing use of feedback in…

Information seeking strategies that primary care physicians use to supplement their knowledge in problem solving were studied to help tailor continuing medical education (CME) courses for various groups of physicians. Of interest were: the sequences physicians use to access different sources, variability among physicians in information search…

A preceptorship in an internal medicine clerkship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine is discussed and evaluated. The results of a telephone survey indicate that the preceptorship had an important impact on the students, who learned time management, office management, and management of chronic clinical problems. (MLW)

Perceptions of students who would have elected a preceptorship rotation had it not been required were compared with those of students who participated only to fulfill the requirement. Both groups perceived an increase in knowledge of primary care practices and confidence in relevant clinical skills. (Author/LBH)